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QUINCY, ILL. -- The following is a press release from Tom Dickerson, Vice-President Board of Education: 

On March 24, 2010, the Illinois Supreme Court denied the Tax Objectors’ final appeal seeking to convert their lawsuits into class actions against the Quincy School District.  Out of town attorney Robert Slattery, on behalf of the Tax Objectors, sought to overturn a ruling made by Judge Mark Schuering in July 2008, which was subsequently upheld by the Illinois Fourth District Appellate Court in December 2009.

The Supreme Court’s decision confirms that the Tax Objectors are not entitled to disrupt the School District’s operations by preventing the County Treasurer from collecting taxes.  The Property Tax Code expressly prohibits such lawsuits:  “[N]o complaint shall be filed as a class action.”  Even though the Property Tax Code prohibits class actions, the Tax Objectors chose to use Quincy as a “test ground” by asking a court to change the law.

Judge Schuering correctly dismissed the class action case as required by the letter of the law. Instead of letting it go at this point, the Tax Objectors appealed to the Fourth District Appellate Court in Springfield.  The appellate court also ruled against the Tax Objectors, so they appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.  The School District was required to defend itself in all three of these courts:  the circuit court, the appellate court, and the supreme court.

The Quincy School District is pleased that the class action issue has been finally put to rest.  However, the Tax Objectors’ arguments should not even have been a point in dispute in the first place because the Property Tax Code expressly prohibits class actions.  In other words, as now confirmed by the courts, the Tax Objectors filed an illegal lawsuit.

Despite the repeated good news of victories in favor of the Quincy School District, these tax lawsuits have serious financial consequences.  Defense costs to the Quincy School District and taxpayers at-large have totaled just over $100,000 on the class action issue alone, and over the past six years have cost just over $550,000 for all of the cases combined.

Unfortunately, as long as these lawsuits are filed every year as they have been for the past consecutive six years (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009), the School District will continue to be placed in the position of mounting a defense at considerable expense.  This money could be better utilized to serve a purpose which benefits our community.